ASSESSMENT OF MANAGEMENT PRACTICES, PRODUCTIVE AND REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE, AND FEED RESOURCES OF SMALL RUMINANTS IN BENCH SHEKO, SHEKA AND WEST OMO ZONES, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

This study was carried out in Bench Sheko, Sheka, and West Omo zones of South West Ethiopia with the objective of assessing management practices, productive and reproductive performances, and feed resource availability of small ruminants. From three zones, four potential districts were purposively selected. Sixteen kebeles were randomly selected from those potential districts and a total of 384 households those have at least one or more sheep and goats were purposively selected. Both primary and secondary data were collected by interviewing, observations, FGD, and written materials from offices. The data was analyzed by using SPSS software. Qualitative and quantitative data sets were analyzed by using appropriate statistical analysis procedures. The descriptive statistics (mean, SE) for numerical survey data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the general linear model procedure. ANOVA model statement was used to investigate the effects of study area (zones) difference on small ruminant performances. Extensive production with a low input low output system was the main production system in the study area. Natural mating was the main breeding system and 70.3% practiced the selection of small ruminants for breeding. Grazing was the main feeding system and almost 84.4% of the respondents graze/browse their small ruminants. The major source of feeds that was available was communal grazing land (41.1%) followed by private grazing land (25.8%), roadside grazing (19.5%), and riverside grazing (13.5%). Sheep and goats require a long time for sexual maturity which affects the performance of the flock. The lambing and kidding intervals of sheep and goats were 7.7 months and 7.9 months in the study area, respectively. Sheep need 12.8 months for lambing and goats need 13.4 months for kidding. Both sheep (male 9.2 months, female 9.3 months) and goats (male 9.8 months, female 9.91 months) need a long time to reach slaughter age. Age at first mating, lambing interval, average litter size, and slaughter ages of sheep showed significant variations, however, AFL was not showed significant variations in the study area. Age at first mating, age at first kidding, kidding interval, average litter size, and slaughter age of goats were significantly different. Small ruminant production was mainly constrained by disease and parasites. The government should take action on disease prevention and treatment works to boost small ruminant production performance.